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Wednesday, December 03, 2008

James Hamilton on Beale's recent lecture

Hamilton posted a positive summary of Beale's recent lecture on inerrancy which form the major part of his argument in a new book that has a peculiar description. According to Hamilton, Beale contends that the idea of 'inerrancy' is not something that theologians make up. It is "an exegetical observation of a theological deduction that at least one biblical author (author of the book of Revelation) has already made within the text of the Bible itself."

Then Hamilton further describes Beale's attempt to further the inerrancy idea to be found in other books within the Bible, such as Isaiah and Psalms.

I think it really depends on how Beale qualifies the term 'inerrancy'. Without a well-defined working definition, it's difficult to say anything on this issue. If inerrancy simply means that the Bible is trustworthy and reliable (contra trustworthy and reliable in ALL historical and scientific data), then I don't see why Beale's book can be of any contribution to the topic.